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Flooding along McLaughlin Run continues to plague residents

By Trista Thurston staff Writer tthurston@thealmanac.Net 6 min read
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Bridgeville resident Sandy Bradley said her Baldwin Street home near McLaughlin Run continues to flood, including her basement during the Sept. 9 storms.

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Trista Thurston/The Almanac McLaughlin Run in Upper St. Clair was running high Sept. 10 after heavy rain over the weekend.

Trista Thurston/The Almanac

Trista Thurston/The Almanac

McLaughlin Run in Upper St. Clair was running high Sept. 10 after heavy rain over the weekend.

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Trista Thurston/The Almanac

Bridgeville firefighters pump the basement of the borough building Sept. 10 after flooding over the weekend.

Even though weekend storms did not produce the flooding originally anticipated, basements were still soaked and waiting to be pumped, Bridgeville borough manager Lori Collins said Sept. 10 as rain continued to fall.

Remains of Tropical System Gordon hovered over southwestern Pennsylvania, drenching the area in several inches of rain over a few days. Allegheny County declared a countywide disaster emergency Sept. 10 after flooding, landslides, power outages, road closures and other emergency situations were reported in various municipalities.

But as of that morning, Collins said nearby McLaughlin Run had not overrun its banks, and there was no first-floor flooding in the borough. A majority of the havoc wreaked by the unrelenting downpour was flooded basements – mostly on Baldwin Street and McLaughlin Run Road – and roadways covered in water.

“It’s actually way less than we expected to happen, so we’re breathing a little sigh of relief,” Collins said.

On Sept. 5, the borough began warning residents of potential flooding through the text alert system and on social media. By Sept. 7, members of the fire department were canvassing the community and handing out flyers, hoping to be proactive about the coming water.

The fire department made the decision not to pump out any basements until the water began to recede, so as not to make repeat visits to homes as water continued to rise with the rain.

Collins said since the rain was spread out over several days, it didn’t seem to hit as hard, though it’s unusual to see nonstop rain. Whereas with the remnants from Hurricane Ivan, a storm that caused major flooding in the area in September 2004, six inches fell in three hours. This recent storm also did not approach the June 20 flash flooding that damaged dozens of borough homes and killed an Upper St. Clair woman who was swept away in the water.

Collins said the borough has tried to be proactive, applying for hazard mitigation assistance funds after Ivan, but was denied because the municipality did not meet the needed criteria. Before Ivan, it had not seen flooding since 1984. Then, the borough did not see further flooding again until 2013.

“Now, they’re coming sooner and faster. The weather is changing,” Collins said.

The borough is still trying to repair walls and other damage caused by the June flooding.

“I can’t imagine what our bill is going to be from June,” Collins said.

The borough recently met with the state Department of Environmental Protection, Allegheny County and its municipal neighbors. Another meeting with Allegheny County was planned for the afternoon of Sept. 10. Collins said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was also looking at modeling some of the flooding issues.

At a DEP meeting Aug. 23, officials brainstormed ideas for potential projects to get a sense of what permits would be required. Some, like installing a trash rack in McLaughlin Run, were smaller and could be implemented quickly. Others, like lowering the elevation of the McLaughlin Run ball field to hold more water, would require grant funding.

“They (DEP) know that this is critical and we’re hoping they will work with us so we can move forward as quickly as possible, Collins said.

A multi-municipality meeting of managers and engineers was also set between Bridgeville, Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park for the end of September, Collins said. The hope was to see what was occurring across the entire McLaughlin Run watershed. One jurisdiction can make changes, but they won’t be effective if neighboring municipalities don’t do anything. Collins wants to see a study of the watershed conducted, and hopes the other municipalities will agree with her it’s necessary.

Bethel Park municipality manager Shawn Arbaugh said that McLaughlin Run is only in a small piece of his borough, but they would come to the table to try to assist with those flooding issues.

The municipality fielded about 12 to 15 phone calls after this most recent deluge, mainly due to stormwater and sewage backups in basement drains. He said many homes have backflow-preventers, leading him to believe high groundwater was the cause. The issues weren’t concentrated in one area, but widespread in lower-lying regions.

Arbaugh has also been in talks with Port Authority about the amount of debris under an abandoned railroad bridge near Brookside Boulevard. The issue is on their radar and the hope is crews will work toward the debris during a nearby, ongoing bridge replacement project.

Arbaugh said the municipality is looking at several potential projects to alleviate flooding to be discussed with council. Though there are no specific plans yet, Arbaugh said the focus is on where water can be retained to prevent downstream issues. Since many issues arise from the sewer system, Arbaugh said the township is constantly working on it. Letters were also sent to anyone living near a stream to remind residents to remove debris from the stream and not to leave anything like grass clippings or tree limbs along the banks. They have also encouraged residents to clear storm drains if they are blocked.

Collins said the best thing residents could do is if they live near McLaughlin Run is to remove all of their valuables from the basement, especially washers, dryers and hot water heaters, so that when their basements flood, they aren’t losing essential appliances.

“If they do that, that makes a big difference in their quality of life,” Collins said. “It’s not usable space. Whatever you put down there is eventually going to get ruined.”

Only once in her 26 years with the borough have flood waters reached the first floor of area homes, Collins said. She understood, though, that moving large appliances to the first floor isn’t an option for everyone. Installing hookups can be expensive. Such a suggestion is easier said than done.

“It’s hard to tell people that,” she said.

Bridgeville resident Sandy Bradley lives on Baldwin Street, and McLaughlin Run is right behind her home. She said her basement has flooded five times since January, and in every instance except the June flooding, it was sewage backing up into her home.

Bradley is dealing with a damaged washer, dryer, freezer and furnace. A new hot water tank and furnace were installed in February. She’s still trying to clean up from the June flood. She doesn’t have the money to continue replacing appliances.

“Now I’m going to have to do it all over again,” she said. “There has to be something done. This can’t keep going over and over.”

Bradley said she isn’t the only one dealing with these issues and that she and her neighbors are disgusted. Her basement flooded before 2018, but this is a new level of frequency. In June, almost four feet of water crept into her living space, which has never happened in all her years living there, not even in 2004.

“I’m up against the creek with no paddles,” Bradley said.

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